FAA's Flight Restrictions Get Wide Range Of Responses

There was "divided opinion on just how significantly the clampdown" on aircraft flying above major sporting events around the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks "would affect the typical fan's game-day experience," according to Clarke & Kehaulani Goo of the WASHINGTON POST, who note that the FAA is prohibiting aircraft from flying within three nautical miles and below 3,000 feet of major college and pro games. Goodyear Manager of Airship PR Jennifer Arnold said that the company's blimps "would still be able to transmit images from above the 3,000-foot ceiling." Arnold: "We will continue to be able to provide safe aerial coverage of sports events for TV, as we have for more than 42 years [since the Orange Bowl in 1960] — just a little higher or a little farther away." NFL VP/Security Milton Ahlerich agreed with the restrictions, saying that "it would help the league manage game-day security." Ahlerich: "It also helps with easing the anxiety on fans. The tow-banner operators, news helicopters, Sunday pilots — these are people who really don't need to be there. This is the right thing to do." Meanwhile, some operators of aerial advertising companies said that the FAA restrictions "are sure to hurt business." TN-based Heads Up Aerial Advertising Manager Dave Senn said that most banner-towing planes "typically fly at about 1,000 feet. At 3,000 feet, most banners will be rendered too small to read." Fox Sports TV Group Chair David Hill said that he "supported anything that would limit the use of blimp in NFL broadcasts, which he called 'the greatest crutch for a lazy director in the history of television.'" Hill: "Instead of getting a shot of a coach's face or a player's face, you go to a wide shot of an anonymous stadium in the suburb. We're not the Travel Channel. We don't need to be looking at suburban rooftops. People tune in to watch athletes, and you don't need it" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/13).